No officer turns up on funeral of SHO killed by Qabza men

LAHORE – The heirs to the deceased SHO of Hadyara police station protested against the callousness of top cops, who did not bother to attend the funeral prayers of the official who was killed by the Qabza mafia on Saturday. The funeral prayers were held at Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines on Sunday.

The bereaved family members took the body of deceased Inspector Mian Muhammad Arshad, who was tortured to death by land grabbers in Govind village on Saturday. Earlier, police lodged an FIR under Section 302 and 7 ATA against 30 persons including two nominated ones. According to the FIR, the land grabbers attacked police team led by Mian Arshad with iron rods, which led to his instant death.

Later, the body was removed to the City morgue for autopsy. The morgue officials have confirmed that the cop had sustained multiple head injuries and visible marks were seen on various parts of his body. Following the assertions of autopsy report, police have maintained that strict action would be taken against the guilty persons.

It may be noted that several senior officers, including CCPO Ahmed Raza Tahir, DIG Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, SSP Operations Sarfaraz Falki, SSP Admin and SSP Discipline were to participate in the prayers. However, no one turned up. The body of Mian Arshad was placed in an ambulance when an attentive and punctual police team gave him guard of honour. “I will say nothing, but it’s a shameful act on the part of the Lahore police,” said one relative. “When their attitude towards their officers is such then how can one expect that they will provide justice to the public,” a family member said, with tears rolling down on his cheeks. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif declared Mian Arshad a martyr and announced Rs3 million for the family. He also pledged that a brother or a son of the deceased cop will be inducted in police force. This is first incident where a serving SHO has been tortured to death by land grabbers.